LOCATION INDIO CA+AZ
Established Series
Rev. AAK/LAB/PDC
04/2015
INDIO SERIES
The Indio series consists of very deep, well or moderately well drained soils formed in alluvium derived from mixed rock sources. Indio soils are on alluvial fans, lacustrine basins and flood plains and have slopes of 0 to 3 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 4 inches and the mean annual air temperarture is about 72 degrees F.
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-silty, mixed, superactive, calcareous, hyperthermic Typic Torrifluvents
TYPICAL PEDON: Indio very fine sandy loam - cultivated; on a less than 1 percent slope at an elevation of about 110 feet. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted).
Ap--0 to 10 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) very fine sandy loam, dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) moist; massive; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common fine roots; few small fresh water shells and fragments of shells; micaceous; strongly effervescent, disseminated calcium carbonate; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear smooth boundary. (6 to 12 inches thick)
C--10 to 60 inches; light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) stratified very fine sandy loam and silt loam; massive and weak thick plates; slightly hard, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; few fine roots; few small fresh water shells and fragments of shells; micaceous; strongly effervescent, disseminated calcium carbonate; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2). (More than 30 inches thick)
TYPE LOCATION: Riverside County, California; about 100 feet east and 50 feet south of the north 1/4 corner of section 30, T.6 S., R.8 E.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture - Intermittently moist in some part of the soil moisture control section during December - February and July - September. Driest during May and June. Typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Soil temperature - 72 to 76 degrees F.
Organic matter - less than 1 percent in the upper 10 inches and decreases irregularly with depth
A, AC, Ap horizons
Hue: 7.5YR, 10YR, 2.5Y
Value: 5 through 7 dry, 3 through 5 moist
Chroma: 2 through 6, dry or moist
Texture: very fine sandy loam, silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, sandy loam, silty clay loam, clay loam
C horizon
Hue: 7.5YR, 10YR, 2.5YR
Value: 5 through 7 dry, 3 through 5 moist
Chroma: 2 through 6, dry or moist
Texture: stratified very fine sandy loam, loam, silt loam, silt (less than 18 percent clay and less than 15 percent fine and coarser sand)
Stratification: strata of loamy fine sand, sandy loam, silt loam, silt, silty clay loam, clay, silty clay
Rock fragments: less than 3 percent gravel and/or few small shell fragments
Reaction: moderately to very strongly alkaline
Calcium carbonate: disseminated throughout
Salinity: 0 to 51 dS/m
Sodium Adsorption Ratio: 0 to 523
COMPETING SERIES: There are no competing series.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Indio soils are on lacustrine basins, alluvial fans and floodplains at elevations ranging from about 1400 feet above sea level to 230 feet below sea level. Slopes are 0 to 3 percent except for a few low banks next to stream channels. The soils formed in young calcareous, silty mixed alluvium. The mean annual precipitation is 3 to 10 inches. Summer storms are infrequent, erratic, and may be violent, and winter rains are infrequent and gentle. The average January temperature is about 50 degrees F., the average July temperature is about 90 degrees F., the mean annual air temperature is about 70 to 74 degrees F. The frost-free period is about 240 to 365 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the
Coachella,
Holtville,
Imperial, and
Rositas soils. Holtville soils have silty clay or clay texture in the upper part of the control section. Imperial soils are dominantly silty clay. Rositas and Coachella soils are sandy.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Indio soils are well or moderately well drained. Some irrigated areas with a water table have tile drains to maintain water below depths of 3 to 5 feet and to remove soluble salts. Runoff is slow. Permeability is moderate.
USE AND VEGETATION: Used for irrigated cropland and livestock grazing. Common crops are cotton, barley, grapes, citrus, dates, and other crops. In other areas, the present vegetation is shadscale, bursage, arrowweed, and other plants. Such areas provide ephemeral grazing in unusually wet years.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern California and southern Arizona. Indio soils are moderately extensive. MLRA is 30 or 31 and 40 in hyperthermic areas used for irrigated cropland.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: PHOENIX, ARIZONA
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Riverside County, California; Coachella Valley; 1923. The name is from the town of Indio.
REMARKS: The activity class was added to the classification in January of 2003. Competing series were not checked at that time. - ET
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Entisol feature - The absence of diagnostic subsurface horizons
Responsibility for this series was transferred from Davis to Phoenix 4/2015. The last revision to the series was 1/2003. ET
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.